The CSGA Links Volume 2 Issue 3 May, 2014 | Page 26

The Grass

IS Greener...

on the other side of the pond

CSGA Executive Director Mike Moraghan recalls his first visit to
the Emerald Isle – 24 years ago…

A

fter dreaming of making the trip for
many years, I finally went to Ireland in
the summer of 1990. I had just finished
my first year as golf coach at the University of
Virginia and decided I would combine a recruiting
trip (there was a phenom named Raymond Burns
worth investigating) with the chance to compete
in a very good tournament, the Mullingar Scratch
Cup. An Irish college player I’d gotten to know,
J.P. Fitzgerald of Dublin and East Tennessee
State, enthusiastically endorsed the idea.

“You’ll love Mullingar, Michael,” J.P.
gushed, “72 holes played over two days on the
26

Connecticut State Golf Association

Bank Holiday, the first Sunday and Monday in
August. It’s a great club full of great people!”

I had a decent enough track record to
secure an invitation to what J.P. described the
as the “unofficial” stroke play championship
of Ireland. Perhaps the tournament chairman,
Joe Healy thought it a curiosity to h ]